A multiport butterfly valve device is known which includes a vertically split body structure. A gasket type seal is between the two halves of the valve body together with an elliptical vane. The vane is rotatable 360 degrees and its peripheral edge continuously contacts the gasket while sliding through the gasket port for sealing against flow. Those persons skilled in the art desiring further information for this valve are referred to U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,653 issued Jan. 11, 1966.
In another known multiport shutoff valve, the movable flap member is rotated in a valve housing having concentric, spherically-shaped sealing surface zones which cooperate with an edge of the flap member for sealing off the flow of liquid from a coupling perpendicular to one of two coaxially aligned couplings. This valve is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,603 issued Apr. 8, 1986. A three-way valve structure is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,351,613 issued June 20, 1944. The structure differs in that the butterfly vane is pivotally connected with respect to the two coaxially aligned ports and the perpendicular port and has a length sufficient for its ends to engage opposite sides of the perpendicular port when pivoted for selectively coupling fluid flow from the coaxially aligned ports to the perpendicularly disposed port. Another three-way valve is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,078,070.
The essential differences between the present invention and the known prior art is the provision of a spherically shaped valve housing having four orthogonally disposed ports with sealing areas disposed between adjacent ports. Thus, two opposite sealing areas are formed between two sets of adjacent ports for a valve flap or a disc having a diameter substantially larger than the interior diameter of the ports. With a 90 degree stroke the disc rotates from two opposite sealing areas between the two sets of adjacent ports to the two remaining sealing areas. The four ports may be attached to piping, or any of them may be plugged, depending on the application.
In addition, a plurality of four port valves may be stacked using a single, splined valve actuator shaft. The additional valves may be mounted on the shaft inverted producing opposite diverter positioning. Thus, inverted stacked four port valves have opposite fluid flow directions to noninverted stacked valves.
The design features of the present valve invention provide a valve suitable for effectively handling large volumes of slurry liquids without malfunction or breakdown and without appreciable line pressure loss.